Saving Grace
by genies9
Summary: Jasper had never met anyone quite like Alice. In a blink of an eye, she completely altered his world. This is their storyhow they met, how they fell in love, and how they became the pair we know today. chapter 2 now up!
1. Prologue

A/N: For some reason I have not quite yet figured out, I shamelessly adore Jasper. I can't really explain why. I just pretty much love him. For the relatively short bits that we see him, he has managed to tug at my heartstrings and make me sigh whenever his name graces the page. If I didn't adore Alice just as much (though in a considerably less amorous fashion) I'd hate the poor girl. :-P

And so, this story seemed to leap from my imagination fully formed and ready for the nearest Word document. Well, all right, I spent most of my work day (my job requires little actual mental activity) thinking about it, but you get the idea.

This is my first foray into the Twilight fandom (though by no means my first fanfic, been writing those for far too long) so be gentle. Please.

Prologue

Biloxi, Mississippi

1919

It was one of those rare days when he was free to move about during the day. It was overcast, though the rain clouds had yet to release the storm they were threatening. It couldn't be much before noon, but from the looks of things it may as well have been dusk.

The streets in this particular corner of town were nearly empty, save for a lone horse-drawn cart waiting for its master at the foot of the local asylum's drive. Jasper moved silently past, ignoring the humans just a short distance away. He had just fed, and it really wouldn't do to draw attention to himself. As it was, they—he and the two other vampires that made up the coven he was, for the moment, a part of—had already overstayed their welcome. They would be leaving soon, probably heading north where they would not have to worry so much about where to spend their days.

Despite his decision to leave them alone, he could hardly help overhearing the humans' conversation.

"You be good for doctors, now, you hear, Mary?" he heard a woman's voice say quickly, sounding, Jasper thought idly as he passed, a bit like someone who thought they had somewhere better to be. "Don't be giving them any trouble."

"Yes, mama," this reply was softer, more resigned.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Brandon, we will take good care of your daughter," came a man's soothing voice.

Later, he wouldn't be quite sure what made him look back, but a long time after, when he bothered to remember at all, Jasper would remember the sight that greeted him as he glanced back up the drive.

A pair of women stood near the front door to the asylum—a large, ominous-looking brick building with bars covering all the windows except those on the first floor—one young, and so small you could almost mistake her for a child, standing on the front steps next to a tall, pale man. The other, her mother, it would seem from the way the girl had addressed her, though she didn't particularly exude any maternal image, stood on the ground next to the first step, clutching a tattered shawl over an equally tattered grey dress. They only vaguely resembled each other—they both had the same black hair, the mother's tied up in a tight bun and streaked with grey, and the daughter's hanging down around her in waves. The mother tall where her daughter tiny, one quite plump—fat, one might go so far as to say—the other skinny and pale.

Jasper turned away. He was far enough removed from his own humanity that he couldn't feel much sympathy for the small girl on the asylum steps. She was just another face among many. Another unfortunate, shuttered away from the rest of the world because of what she was.

* * *

A/N: Hmm. I may be taking small liberties here. :-P But it seemed like an interesting way to start. To me it did, anyway. 


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: I like random places. And Stephenie Meyer never said _where _Jasper and Alice met. Oh, yes, and I forgot my disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Jasper. :-(

Chapter 1

Somewhere in Wyoming,

1948

Either she was the most completely inept vampire that ever lived—though, he really hoped not, because how foolish would that make _him _look?—or she was so assured of herself and her own abilities that his presence didn't bother her enough to acknowledge it.

The third option, that she was waiting for him to make a move, didn't occur to him at the time. He was, after all, in her territory, though he had been careful not to hunt there in the three days since he'd entered it.

Jasper had been following her, apparently unnoticed, for the past three days, since he'd arrived in the area and caught her scent. His reasons for doing this were embarrassing. It had been more than a decade since he'd left his coven. He had been wandering on his own now, by turns depressed and accepting, angry and something that could almost be termed "content."

If he were to be completely honest with himself—and he made it a general rule to be—his real problem was that he was lonely. He hadn't thought he would be. He'd left the others seeking solitude, an escape from Michael's sullenness and Maria's… well. Getting away from her in general seemed like a good idea. He had thought that the farther from them he got, the better his existence would be. The more at peace with himself he would feel.

It wasn't that there weren't things he liked about being a vampire. The speed, the strength, the senses. He had never balked at hunting humans—it was just something one _did,_ the way humans hunted other animals. It was easier, anyway, than not feeding at all, which would make his existence unbearable. Easier, but not necessarily better. It still made him feel like a monster, and the more time went on, the more those feelings started to weigh on him.

In a desperate moment, Jasper had decided there was nothing for it but to go back and find Michael and Maria. Not to join them, but perhaps to call upon the antagonism that had sprung up just before he had left them. A decision made in a weak moment, and it had led him north to places he thought they might be.

Wyoming was not exactly one of those places. Jasper had only been passing through on his way farther north—to Canada, maybe, or somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

And then, without really meaning to, he had found _her._

It was a full day before it occurred to him that he'd seen her before. She looked different, obviously, with that ethereal beauty that came along with being a vampire. Her hair was much shorter—he dimly recalled hearing somewhere that they shaved the patients' heads in asylums, or something like that—and it was so very different seeing her _move_ than seeing her stand still. It might just be another effect of being a vampire, though Jasper didn't think that _he_ could ever move like that, but her movements were incredibly graceful. Just walking she put him to shame.

He was making a fool out of himself, Jasper was sure of that. He should just keep going. There was really no need to become distracted.

Jasper smiled a little for a moment, despite himself. But what a distraction!

She was, however, perhaps the strangest vampire he had ever met—or seen, anyway.

They were at present somewhere deep in the woods. They had passed a group of hikers about a mile ago, but she seemed completely uninterested. Odd. Very odd. If she wasn't here to hunt, what on earth was she doing?

As if reading his mind, she suddenly crouched down in pose he knew well. Jasper scanned the area, expecting to see some unsuspecting hiker. But the only humans in the area were behind them, heading in the opposite direction. In fact, the only living creatures he could see were a small herd of deer.

And then, with that graceful speed he had been admiring for three days, she sprang forward into the herd.

The deer scattered, but one remained, with this strange, pixie-like vampire bending over it.

Yes, odd. Very, very odd.


End file.
